Trends in Information Dissemination: Speed of Information Transmission is increasing at a very rapid pace and veracity (the source, the “Truthiness” of the information (thank you Stephen Colbert!), or if it has been tampered with en-route) has not .
Initially information travelled as fast as humans could travel – A courier would take a document or a piece of information and use a fast horse or chariot to convey it from one location to another. Then humans invented other modes of transmission of signals – carrier pigeons, smoke signals, sound/light transmissions within line of sight and then we moved on to using an electric current (telegraph, telephone) and eventually using light or or radio or microwave, VHF, UHF transmissions. We also learnt how to use satellites for communication when the curvature of the earth’s surface got in the way of line of sight transmission. Mostly this was point to point with respected agents in the middle establishing the veracity of the information – like newspapers, radio stations, tv stations etc.
Meanwhile in the early part of this century, we had the advent of a number of social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, SnapChat, YouTube, MySpace etc. These networks connected individuals into social networks and facilitated an extreme agility in information transmission. Think how easy it is to share an update or a personal opinion on these networks. It has developed to such an extent that it is possible to rapidly disseminate false news with real consequences.
Now it has become possible for anyone to act as an agent and share any content however authentic or inauthentic with his network. In a highly interconnected social network, this results in sacrificing veracity.
Take for example this specific site – focusnews.us, that very often shows up on my Facebook feed.
This site usually runs incendiary stories with provocative headlines like the following (I have only attached news items that showed up on my Facebook feed today because someone in my network liked it, or shared it or commented on it). Here’s a commentary of someone’s personal opinion disguised as news and sensational clickbait:
And having a few catalysts in any social network – implies a news story can be disseminated very easily without the usual veracity requirements as a traditional news organization.
The effect of rapid information dissemination and network amplification that helps false news propagate and have a much more profound effect on public perception.
I looked at their website to understand if they had any journalistic credentials. I found none – no names for the management team, the editor or any journalistic team. The Contact Us section provided an anonymous email address (world@focusnews.us) that did nothing to reassure me of their credentials. So I am assuming this is a clickbait operation, with a goal to generate ad revenues by posting sensational stories on social networks and getting people to click on them. But I haven’t seen any ads on their site – so what should I assume? Is this a disinformation operation that is being fed to a gullible american electorate who loves their conspiracy theories!
When I looked up the internet registration record for this site, it appears to be registered in Macedonia and regularly publishing unverified US news.
RAW WHOIS DATA
Domain Name: FOCUSNEWS.US
Domain ID: D55884931-US
Sponsoring Registrar: GODADDY.COM, INC.
Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID: 146
Registrar URL (registration services): whois.godaddy.com
Domain Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Domain Status: clientRenewProhibited
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Variant: FOCUSNEWS.US
Registrant ID: CR255879236
Registrant Name: ivan stankovic
Registrant Address1: JNA 18
Registrant City: kumanovo
Registrant State/Province: macedonia
Registrant Postal Code: 1300
Registrant Country: MACEDONIA, THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF
Registrant Country Code: MK
Registrant Phone Number: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Registrant Email: @gmail.com
Registrant Application Purpose: P3
Registrant Nexus Category: C11
Administrative Contact ID: CR255879238
Administrative Contact Name: ivan stankovic
Administrative Contact Address1: JNA 18
Administrative Contact City: kumanovo
Administrative Contact State/Province: macedonia
Administrative Contact Postal Code: 1300
Administrative Contact Country: MACEDONIA, THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF
Administrative Contact Country Code: MK
Administrative Contact Phone Number: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Administrative Contact Email: @gmail.com
Administrative Application Purpose: P3
Administrative Nexus Category: C11
Billing Contact ID: CR255879239
Billing Contact Name: ivan stankovic
Billing Contact Address1: JNA 18
Billing Contact City: kumanovo
Billing Contact State/Province: macedonia
Billing Contact Postal Code: 1300
Billing Contact Country: MACEDONIA, THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF
Billing Contact Country Code: MK
Billing Contact Phone Number: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Billing Contact Email: @gmail.com
Billing Application Purpose: P3
Billing Nexus Category: C11
Technical Contact ID: CR255879237
Technical Contact Name: ivan stankovic
Technical Contact Address1: JNA 18
Technical Contact City: kumanovo
Technical Contact State/Province: macedonia
Technical Contact Postal Code: 1300
Technical Contact Country: MACEDONIA, THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF
Technical Contact Country Code: MK
Technical Contact Phone Number: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Technical Contact Email: @gmail.com
Technical Application Purpose: P3
Technical Nexus Category: C11
Name Server: NS1.FOCUSNEWS.US
Name Server: NS2.FOCUSNEWS.US
Created by Registrar: GODADDY.COM, INC.
Last Updated by Registrar: GODADDY.COM, INC.
Domain Registration Date: Fri Oct 21 22:24:17 GMT 2016
Domain Expiration Date: Fri Oct 20 23:59:59 GMT 2017
Domain Last Updated Date: Mon Oct 31 15:37:59 GMT 2016
DNSSEC: false
If people are gullible enough to fall for this clickbait and generate traffic for this website, there is nothing wrong with this – this lets them push advertising based on site traffic and a couple of kids making money off this,it is a perfect example of capitalism.
And who knows if they are also being paid by any foreign government to carry out a disinformation campaign – oh wait – thats not true – right – we just heard from Putin that they would never do so…so obviously this line of reasoning is wrong…
And if my fellow Americans are gullible enough to fall for these clickbaits and provide these entrepreneurs with a steady revenue stream – so be it. But let’s not call it news anymore….
Do also check out this report on how fake news works (from media matters.org) –